The Color of Earth

The Color of Earth by Kim Dong Hwa
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ehwa becomes a beautiful young woman under the kindly eye of her widowed mother, whose words of wisdom teach Ehwa about love and the physical changes of growing up.

The tone of the prose is gentle as Ehwa discovers the joys and pains of first love. The art in this book is undeniably lovely, but after a while the many extended poetic metaphors went from pretty to cloying.

I appreciated the loving and frank relationship between Ehwa and her mother, but I can also understand why parents may object to the nudity and sexual content of this book. At the same time, I think that The Color of Earth could help parents talk to their children - particularly daughters - about the physical changes that come with puberty, changes which can feel overwhelming (and be an embarrassing subject to discuss).